Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

ABSTRACT

Target processing temperatures for a wafer and offset values are tabulated and stored in a temperature controller in advance. When a target processing temperature is changed, a hot plate temperature corresponding to the target processing temperature for the wafer is calculated based on the offset value in the table. Based on the calculated value, a heater controller controls a heater to change the hot plate temperature. Thereby, in a substrate heat processing apparatus for performing heat processing at different temperatures, an offset value corresponding to each temperature is automatically changed, whereby the substrate can be heated at an appropriate temperature.

This is a division of application No. 09/653,161 filed Sep. 1, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and asubstrate processing method.

2. Description of the Related Art

In fabrication of a semiconductor device, lithography processing isperformed to form a resist pattern on a semiconductor wafer that is asubstrate or an LCD substrate. In the lithography process, coatingprocessing for applying a resist on a front face of the substrate,developing processing for performing developing processing for theexposed substrate, heat processing which is performed before and afterthe exposure processing and after the developing processing, coolingprocessing for cooling the substrate to a predetermined temperatureafter the heat processing, and the like are performed.

In the aforesaid heat processing, there are prebaking processing forperforming vaporization of a remaining solvent in the resist,post-exposure baking processing for reducing deformation of a resistpattern before the developing, post-prebaking processing for vaporizingremaining wafer after the developing, and the like.

Such heat processing for the substrate is performed by heating a hotplate to a predetermined temperature by means of a heater that is aheating element and mounting the substrate on the hot plate in a heatprocessing apparatus. However, there usually arises a temperaturedifference between the temperature of the hot plate and the temperatureof the front face of the heated substrate because heat energy is lostwhen being transmitted. Hence, the difference is set as an offset valuein advance and the hot plate temperature is set at a temperature higherthan a target processing temperature for the substrate by the offsetvalue so as to heat the substrate at a predetermined temperature.

However, in the case where heat processing is performed at a pluralityof target processing temperatures in one heat processing apparatus,since the offset value is different with respect to the targetprocessing temperature, it is necessary to reset the offset value forevery change, thereby bringing about deterioration in throughput. If theoffset value is fixed at one value, the substrate can not be heated atan optimal temperature, thereby causing deterioration in yield.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is made under the above circumstances and anobject thereof is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and asubstrate processing method in which when a substrate istemperature-controlled at a plurality of target processing temperaturesin one substrate processing apparatus, the temperature of a plate onwhich the substrate is mounted is automatically changed to anappropriate temperature based on an offset value corresponding to thetarget processing temperature.

To attain the above object, in a main first aspect of the presentinvention, provided is a substrate processing apparatus comprising: aplate on which a substrate is placed and including temperature controlmeans for setting the substrate at a target processing temperature;storage means for storing a plurality of the target processingtemperatures and a temperature difference between the target processingtemperature and an actual temperature of the plate when the plate is setat the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of targetprocessing temperatures; and control means for controlling thetemperature control means to change the temperature of the plate basedon the temperature difference stored for each of the plurality of targetprocessing temperatures.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, thetemperature of the plate can be automatically changed withconsiderations of a temperature difference between each of the targetprocessing temperatures and the actual temperature of the plate withchanges in target processing temperature for the substrate. Therefore,even if the target processing temperature for the substrate is changed,the substrate is processed at an appropriate temperature, therebyimproving yields. Further, it is unnecessary to reset the temperature ofthe plate for every change, resulting in improved throughput.

In a second aspect of the present invention, provided is a substrateprocessing apparatus comprising: a plate on which a substrate is placedand including temperature control means for each of partitioned areasfor setting the substrate at a target processing temperature; storagemeans for storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures anda temperature difference between the target processing temperature andan actual temperature of the plate when the plate is set at the targetprocessing temperature for each of the plurality of target processingtemperatures for each of the areas; and control means for controllingeach of the temperature control means to change the temperature of theplate in each of the areas based on the temperature difference storedfor each of the plurality of target processing temperatures.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, even ifthe target processing temperature for the substrate is changed, theplate temperature is individually changed by the heating elementindividually provided in each area, whereby the substrate istemperature-controlled at an appropriate temperature. Further,non-uniformity in temperature control within the same substrate can becorrected, whereby the substrate is uniformly temperature-controlled,resulting in improved yields.

In a third aspect of the present invention, provided is a substrateprocessing method for temperature-controlling a plate to set a substrateon the plate at a target processing temperature comprising the steps of:storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures; storing atemperature difference between the target processing temperature and anactual temperature of the plate when the plate is heated to the targetprocessing temperature for each of the plurality of target processingtemperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the plateneeds to be temperature-controlled based on the target processingtemperature and the temperature difference; and temperature-controllingthe plate to the predetermined temperature.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, it ispossible to store a plurality target processing temperatures for thesubstrate and temperature differences between the target processingtemperatures and actual plate temperatures corresponding to the targetprocessing temperatures and obtain the plate temperature from thosevalues to change the temperature of the plate. Accordingly, even if thetarget processing temperature for the substrate is changed, thesubstrate is processed at an appropriate temperature, thereby improvingyields. Further, since the plate temperature is automatically changed,it is unnecessary to reset the temperature of the plate for everychange, resulting in improved throughput.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, provided is a substrateprocessing method for temperature-controlling a plate totemperature-control a substrate on the plate to a target processingtemperature comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the targetprocessing temperatures; storing a temperature difference between thetarget processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate ineach of partitioned areas of the plate when the plate istemperature-controlled to the target processing temperature for each ofthe plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining apredetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be heated for eachof the areas based on the target processing temperature and thetemperature difference; and temperature-controlling the plate to thepredetermined temperature.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, even ifthe target processing temperature for the substrate is changed, theplate temperature is individually changed in each area, whereby thesubstrate is heated at an appropriate temperature. Further,non-uniformity, in heating temperature within the substrate plane iscorrected, whereby the substrate is uniformly processed, resulting inimproved yields.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, provided is a substrateprocessing method comprising the steps of: mounting a first substrate ona hot plate including a heating element and set at a predeterminedtemperature and heating the first substrate; removing the firstsubstrate from a top of the hot plate; heating the hot plate at atemperature higher than the predetermined temperature and thereafterheating the hot plate at the predetermined temperature; and mounting asecond substrate on the hot plate and heating the second substrate.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, even ifthe temperature of the hot plate decreases to be lower than thepredetermined temperature due to the processing for the first substrate,the hot plate is heated at a temperature higher than the predeterminedtemperature before the second substrate which is subsequently processedis carried in, whereby the hot plate can be quickly returned to adesired predetermined temperature, resulting in improved throughput.

These objects and still other objects and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent upon reading the following specificationwhen taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an appearance of a coating and developingprocessing system including a heat processing apparatus according tothis embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the coating and developing processing systemin FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the coating and developing processing system inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a vertically sectional view showing thestructure of a heat processing apparatus according to this embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a hot plate of a heat processing apparatusaccording to a first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic layout of controllers according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of heat processing using theheat processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a table showing examples of relations between heating settemperatures and offset values that are checked in advance;

FIG. 9 is a graph in which the relations between the heating settemperatures and the offset values are figured as a linear function;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a partitioned hot plate according to asecond embodiment;

FIG. 11 is another partition example of a hot plate according to thesecond embodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a graph showing temperature changes of a hot plate and aheater with carry in/out of a wafer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coating and developing processing system 1 inwhich a prebaking unit as a heat processing apparatus for a substrateaccording to this embodiment is incorporated, FIG. 2 is a front view ofthe coating and developing processing system 1, and FIG. 3 is a rearview of the coating and developing processing system 1.

The coating and developing processing system 1 has a configuration inwhich a cassette station 2 for carrying, for example, 25 wafers W percassette from/to the outside to/from the coating and developingprocessing system 1, and for carrying the wafers W into/out of acassette C, a processing station 3 in which various processing units forperforming predetermined processing to the wafers W one by one in acoating and developing process are multi-tiered, and an interfacesection 4, which is provided adjacent to the processing station 3, fordelivering the wafer W to/from an aligner (not shown) are integrallyconnected.

In the cassette station 2, a plurality of cassettes C are mountable in aline in an X-direction (in a vertical direction in FIG. 1), atpredetermined positions on a cassette mounting table 5 that is amounting section. A wafer transfer body 7 transportable in the directionof arrangement of the cassettes (the X-direction) and in the directionof arrangement of the wafers W housed in the cassettes C (a Z-direction;a vertical direction), is provided to be movable along a transfer path 8and to selectively get access to each cassette C.

The wafer transfer body 7 is structured to be accessible to an alignmentunit 32 and an extension unit 33 included in a third processing unitgroup G3 on the processing station 3 side as will be explained later.

In the processing station 3, a main transfer apparatus 13 is disposed atthe center thereof and various kinds of processing units aremulti-tiered around the main transfer apparatus 13 to form processingunit groups. In the coating and developing processing system 1, fourprocessing unit groups G1, G2, G3, and G4 are arranged and the first andsecond processing unit groups G1 and G2 are arranged on the front sideof the coating and developing system 1, the third processing unit groupG3 is arranged adjacent to the cassette station 2, and the fourthprocessing unit group G4 is arranged adjacent to the interface section4. Moreover, a fifth processing unit group G5 shown by a broken line asan option can be additionally arranged on the rear side.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the first processing unit group G1, two kinds ofspinner-type processing units, for example, a resist coating unit 15 forapplying a resist to the wafer W to process it and a developingprocessing unit 16 for supplying a developing solution to the wafer W toprocess it are two-tiered from the bottom in order. Similarly in thesecond processing unit group G2, a resist coating unit 17 and adeveloping processing unit 18 are two-tiered from the bottom in order.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the third processing unit group G3, a coolingunit 30 for performing cooling processing for the wafer W, an adhesionunit 31 for enhancing fixedness of the resist solution and the wafer W,an alignment unit 32 for performing alignment of the wafer W, anextension unit 33 for allowing the wafer W to wait, prebaking units 34and 35 according to this embodiment for performing heat processingbefore exposure processing, postbaking units 36 and 37 for performingheat processing after developing processing, and the like areeight-tiered from the bottom in order.

In the fourth processing unit group G4, a cooling unit 40, an extensionand cooling unit 41 for allowing the mounted wafer W to be naturallycooled, an extension unit 42, a cooling unit 43, post-exposure bakingunits 44 and 45 for performing heat processing for the wafer W afterexposure processing, postbaking units 46 and 47, and the like areeight-tiered from the bottom in order.

A wafer transfer body 50 is provided in the central portion of theinterface section 4. The wafer transfer body 50 is configured to beaccessible to the extension and cooling unit 41 and the extension unit42 included in the fourth processing unit group G4, an edge aligner 51,and the aligner (not shown).

The prebaking unit 34 according to this embodiment includes adisc-shaped hot plate 60 for mounting the wafer W thereon and heating itas shown in FIG. 4 and a temperature controller 61 for controlling thetemperature of the hot plate 60. A heater 62, which is patterned, as aheating element is embedded in the hot plate 60 as shown in FIG. 5.Further, a temperature sensor 63 for measuring the temperature of thehot plate 60 is provided in the vicinity of the center thereof.

The temperature controller 61 has a function of storing a plurality oftarget processing temperatures of the wafer W and differences intemperature (hereinafter, referred to as “offsets”) between the targetprocessing temperatures and actual hot plate temperatures with respectto the target processing temperatures and a function of obtaining acorresponding hot plate temperature when the target processingtemperature for the wafer W is changed or set based on the targetprocessing temperatures and the offset values which have been stored inadvance. The temperature controller 61 is connected to the temperaturesensor 63 of the hot plate 60 and a heater controller 64 as shown inFIG. 6 to provide data to the heater controller 64 based on a measuredtemperature by the temperature sensor 63. Further, the heater controller64 is configured to change the voltage of the heater 62 to adjust thetemperature of the hot plate 60 based on the data from the temperaturecontroller 61.

Moreover, the prebaking unit 34 is provided with three raising andlowering pins 65 for raising and lowering the wafer W when the wafer Wis carried in/out. The raising and lowering pins 65 are ascendable anddescendable in through holes 66 penetrating the hot plate 60 by means ofa drive mechanism not shown. Moreover, proximity pins 67 for supportingthe wafer W while the wafer W is slightly lifted off the front face ofthe hot plate 60 are disposed on the hot plate 60.

Next, operations of the prebaking unit 34 configured as above will beexplained with a process of coating and developing processing for thewafer W performed in the coating and developing processing system 1.

First, the wafer transfer body 7 takes one unprocessed wafer W out of acassette C and carried it into the alignment unit 32 included in thethird processing unit group G3. Then, the wafer W for which alignmenthas been completed in the alignment unit 32 is transferred to theadhesion unit 31, the cooling unit 30, and the resist coating unit 15 or17 in order by the main transfer apparatus 13 to be subjected topredetermined processing. Thereafter, the wafer W is transferred to theprebaking unit 34 or 35 each for vaporizing the remaining solvent in theresist.

A heating process for the wafer W which is subjected to heat processingin the prebaking unit 34 will be explained here in accordance with aflow in FIG. 7.

Here, before the heat processing is performed, offset values of, forexample, 1.0° C. and 2.0° C. with respect to a plurality of targetprocessing temperatures for the wafer W, for example, target processingtemperatures of 90.0° C. and 130.0° C., are checked in advance, and therelations are tabulated as shown in FIG. 8 and stored in the temperaturecontroller 61.

The wafer W for which the previous process has been completed istransferred to the prebaking unit 34 by the main transfer apparatus 13.Next, the wafer W is delivered to the raising and lowering pins 65 whichhave ascended and waited at a position above the hot plate 60 inadvance. The wafer W supported by the raising and lowering pins 65 islowered with the descent of the raising and lowering pins 65 to bemounted on the proximity pins 67 on the hot plate 60, whereby theprebaking processing is started. The hot plate 60 has been preheated toa predetermined temperature as follows.

First, the target processing temperature of 90.0° C. for the wafer W isinput to the temperature controller 61 in accordance with a recipe.Then, in the temperature controller 61, a predetermined hot platetemperature is obtained based on the offset value of 1.0° C., which hasbeen stored in advance, with respect to the target processingtemperature of 90.0° C. The temperature controller 61 inputs the data ofthe obtained hot plate temperature of 91.0° C. (90.0+1.0) into theheater controller 64. The heater controller 64 adjusts the voltage inaccordance with the data to control the heating value of the heater 62.Therefore, the hot plate 60 is heated to the predetermined temperature.Thereafter, the wafer W is carried into the prebaking unit 34 andmounted on the hot plate 60 as described above.

The wafer W mounted on the hot plate 60 is heated to 90.0° C. that isthe target processing temperature with the hot plate temperature of91.0° C. and heated for a predetermined period of time. The wafer W forwhich the heating has been completed is again raised by the raising andlowering pins 65, delivered to the main transfer body 13, and carriedout of the prebaking unit 34.

Here, the processing for the wafer W which needs prebaking at the targetprocessing temperature of 90.0° C. is completed. Next, the case whereprocessing for the wafer W which needs prebaking at a temperature of,for example, 130.0° C. is performed will be explained.

First, the target processing temperature of 130.0° C. for the wafer W inaccordance with a new recipe is input to the temperature controller 61.Then, in the temperature controller 61, a predetermined hot platetemperature is obtained based on the offset value of 2.0° C., which hasbeen stored in advance, with respect to the new target processingtemperature of 130.0° C. The temperature controller 61 inputs the dataof the obtained hot plate temperature of 132.0° C. (130.0+2.0) into theheater controller 64. The heater controller 64 adjusts the voltage inaccordance with the data to control the heating value of the heater 62.Hereinafter, prebaking processing for the wafer W is performed in thesame manner as above until the target processing temperature is changed.

When the temperature is changed to a target processing temperature Xwhich has not been stored in the temperature controller 61 in advance,the relations between the other offset values a and b and the targetprocessing temperatures A and B which have been stored in advance arefigured as a linear function as shown in FIG. 9 to calculate an offsetvalue, and an appropriate hot plate temperature Y is obtained based onthe offset value. For example, the hot plate temperature Y when thetarget processing temperature is X can be obtained by an expression ofY=X+(b−a)/(B−A) * X+(aB−Ab)/(B−A) where the stored target processingtemperatures are A and B and the previously stored offset valuescorresponding to A and B are a and b respectively. For example, when thetarget processing temperature X is 110.0° C. with values of a=1.0° C.,b=2.0° C., A=90.0° C., and B=130.0° C., the hot plate temperatureY=110.0+1.5=111.5° C. is obtained from the above expression. Thetemperature controller 61 may be configured such that the hot platetemperature is obtained from the correlation between the targetprocessing temperatures and the offset values as described above so asto automatically control the heater 62. Consequently, when heatprocessing is performed for a wafer W with a target processingtemperature of 110.0° C., the hot plate temperature is automatically setat 111.5° C. and prebaking processing is performed.

Thereafter, a new wafer W is transferred into the prebaking unit 34 andsubjected to heat processing in a predetermined process.

Through the use of the prebaking unit 34 according to the aboveembodiment, even if the target processing temperature for the wafer W ischanged, an appropriate heating temperature of the hot plate 60 iscalculated based on the offset value corresponding to each of the targetprocessing temperatures which have been stored in advance toautomatically control the heater 62. Therefore, even when performingheat processing at a different target processing temperature inaccordance with a recipe, the prebaking unit 34 can perform heatprocessing for the wafer W at an optimal temperature. Further, it isunnecessary to reset the temperature of the hot plate for every changein target processing temperature for the wafer W, resulting in improvedthroughput.

The wafer W for which the heat processing has been completed in theabove-described prebaking unit 34 is cooled in the extension and coolingunit 41 and thereafter a series of predetermined processing such as edgeexposure processing, exposure processing, developing processing and thelike is performed.

Next, a prebaking unit 34 of which a hot plate is concentricallypartitioned and including a heater as a heating element in eachpartitioned area will be explained as a second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 10, a hot plate 70 is concentrically partitioned intothree, and heaters 72 a, 72 b, and 72 c as heating elements are embeddedin partitioned areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c respectively. The heaters 72a, 72 b, and 72 c include heater controllers 74 a, 74 b, and 74 crespectively. The heater controllers 74 a, 74 b, and 74 c are connectedto a temperature controller 61 to be separately controlled. Thetemperature controller 61 has a function of separately storing aplurality of target processing temperatures for the wafer W and offsetvalues with respect to the target processing temperatures for each ofthe areas 70 a, 7 b, and 70 c and a function of obtaining apredetermined hot plate temperature for each of the areas 70 a, 70 b,and 70 c based on the values which have been stored in advance when thetarget processing temperature for the wafer W is changed or set tocontrol each of the heater controllers 74 a, 74 b, and 74 c. Further,each of temperature sensors 73 a, 73 b, and 73 c is attached to aportion close to the front face of the hot plate 70 in each of the areas70 a, 70 b, and 70 c. The temperature sensors 73 a, 73 b, and 73 c areindividually connected to the temperature controller 61.

When the target processing temperature is changed, the hot platetemperature for each of the areas 70 a, 70 b, and 7 c is obtained basedon the offset value which has been previously stored for each of theareas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c to control each of the heaters 72 a, 72 b,and 72 c so as to change the hot plate temperature in each of the areas70 a, 70 b, and 70 c as in the first embodiment. Further, even when thetemperature is changed to a target processing temperature which has notbeen stored, the temperature controller 61 calculates the temperature ofthe hot plate 70 based on the stored target processing temperatures andoffset values for each of the areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c to control theheaters 72 a, 72 b, and 72 c by the heater controllers 74 a, 74 b, and74 c in the respective areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c.

Generally, when the wafer W on the hot plate 70 is heated by the hotplate 70, the closer to the peripheral portion of the wafer W itbecomes, the more an amount of heat is radiated to the outside, with theresult that the offset value in each of the areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 cis naturally different.

As for the above point, according to the second embodiment, when thetarget processing temperature for the wafer W is changed, each offsetvalue with respect to the target processing temperature in each of thepartitioned areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c of the hot plate 70 is stored inadvance, and the temperature of the hot plate 70 can be automaticallyadjusted in each of the areas 70 a, 70 b, and 70 c based on the offsetvalue. Therefore, even when the wafer W is subjected to heat processingat a different target processing temperature according to a recipe, theheat processing can be performed at optimal temperatures at the centralportion and the peripheral portion of the wafer W. Further, it isunnecessary to reset the temperature of the hot plate for every changein the target processing temperature for the wafer W, resulting inimproved throughput. Furthermore, non-uniformity in heating temperaturewithin the same wafer W can be adjusted, thereby uniformly processingthe wafer w and improving yields.

The hot plate 70 is concentrically partitioned in the second embodiment,but a hot plate 90 may be radially partitioned from the center into aplurality, for example, three.

Further, in the aforesaid embodiments, there arises a temperature fallin the hot plate itself by the wafer W being mounted on the hot plate inthe processing for the wafer W in the prebaking unit. Therefore, when awafer W to be subsequently processed is processed at the sametemperature, it is necessary to heat the hot plate to reset the hotplate at the predetermined temperature by the time of the processing forthe following wafer W. FIG. 12 is a graph showing temperature changes ofthe hot plate and the heater due to carry in/out of the wafer W. Thehorizontal axis shows time and the vertical axis shows temperature ofthe hot plate and the heater. In the graph, a solid line showstemperature changes in the hot plate and a broken line shows temperaturechanges in the heater. This graph presupposes that there is no heat lossin heat transmission from the heater to the entire hot plate. As shownin FIG. 12, heat is transmitted from the hot plate to the wafer W,whereby the temperature of the hot plate gradually lowers during theheat processing period for a first wafer W (period of {circle around(1)} in FIG. 12). It should be noted that the heater is set at the sametemperature as a predetermined temperature of the hot plate during theheat processing period for the first wafer W. Thus, the temperature ofthe heater is set at a temperature higher than the predeterminedtemperature of the hot plate during a period from when the first wafer Wwhich has been subjected to the heat processing is carried out to when asecond wafer W is carried in (period of {circle around (2)} in FIG. 12)for the following wafer processing. Thereby, the temperature of the hotplate can be returned to the predetermined temperature more quickly thanthe case in which the heater is kept at the same temperature as thepredetermined temperature of the hot plate, so that the total processingtime can be reduced. After being set at the temperature higher than thepredetermined temperature of the hot plate, the heater is set at thesame temperature as the predetermined temperature of the hot platebefore the second wafer W is carried in. After the hot plate is set atthe predetermined temperature, the second wafer W is carried into aprocessing chamber to be subjected to heat processing (period of {circlearound (3)} in FIG. 12).

The above-described heat processing apparatus is the prebaking unit inthe coating and developing processing system, but it may be applied toother heat processing apparatuses of the coating and developing system,for example, the post-exposure baking unit, postbaking unit, and theadhesion unit. Further, as for a substrate, the heat processingapparatus is applicable not only to a disc-shaped substrate such as awafer but also to a square substrate such as an LCD substrate. Further,the present invention is not limited to the heat processing apparatusbut applicable to a cooling processing apparatus for cooling asubstrate. In this case, though the hot plate provided with the heateras temperature control means is used in the aforesaid embodiments, acooling plate provided with a pipe through which a temperaturecontrolling water passes in the plate may be used as the temperaturecontrol means.

The aforesaid embodiments have the intention of clarifying technicalmeaning of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention isnot intended to be limited to the above concrete embodiments and to beinterpreted in a narrow sense, and various changes may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the present invention and withinthe meaning of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a plate including: a plate body; temperature adjusting means for setting a substrate at a target processing temperature; and proximity pins being disposed on the plate body for supporting the substrate so that the substrate is lifted away from the upper surface of the plate body; storage means for storing a plurality of the target processing temperature and a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate when substrate is set at the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperature; and control means for controlling the temperature adjusting means to change the temperature of the plate based on the temperature difference stored in the storage means for each of the plurality of target processing temperature whereby the temperature of the substrate is set at the target processing temperature.
 2. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a hot plate including: a hot plate body; a heating element embedded in the hot plate body for heating a substrate to a target processing temperature; proximity pins being disposed on the plate body for supporting the substrate so that the substrate is lifted away from the upper surface of the plate body; storage means for storing a plurality of the target processing temperature and a temperature difference between the target processing temperature of the substrate and an actual temperature of the hot plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; and control means for controlling the heating element to change the temperature of the hot plate based on the temperature difference stored in the storage means for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures whereby the temperature of the substrate is set at the target processing temperature.
 3. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a plate including: a plate body; temperature adjusting means for each of partitioned areas for setting a substrate at a target processing temperature; and proximity pins being disposed on the plate body for supporting the substrate so that the substrate is lifted away from the upper surface of the plate body; storage means for storing a plurality of the target processing temperature and a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate when the substrate is set at the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperature for each of the areas; and control means for controlling each of the temperature adjusting means to change the temperature of the plate in each of the areas based on the temperature difference stored in the storage means for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures whereby the temperature of the substrate is set at the target processing temperature.
 4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said plate is circular in plane shape and the partitioned areas are concentrically partitioned areas.
 5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said plate is circular in plane shape and the partitioned areas are areas which are radially partitioned from the center of said plate.
 6. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a hot plate including: a hot plate body; a heating element embedded in the hot plate body for each of partitioned areas for heating a substrate to a target processing temperature; proximity pins being disposed on the plate body for supporting the substrate so that the substrate is lifted away from the upper surface of the plate body; storage means for storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures and a temperature difference between the target processing temperature of the substrate and an actual temperature of the hot plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures for each of the areas; and control means for controlling each of the heating elements to change the temperature of the hot plate in each of the areas based on the temperature difference stored in the storage means for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures whereby the temperature of the substrate is set at the target processing temperature.
 7. A substrate processing method for temperature-controlling a plate to set a substrate at a target processing temperature, the substrate being supported on proximity pins being disposed on an upper surface of the plate, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures; storing a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be temperature-controlled based on the target processing temperature of the substrate and the temperature difference; and temperature-controlling the plate to the predetermined temperature.
 8. The method as set forth in claim 7, wherein said step of obtaining the predetermined temperature comprises: obtaining a predetermined temperature difference corresponding to an optional target processing temperature based on a correlation between a plurality of the target processing temperatures and the temperature differences; and obtaining the predetermined temperature of the plate based on the optional target processing temperature and the temperature difference obtained in the previous step.
 9. A substrate processing method for heating a hot plate to heat a to a target processing temperature, the substrate being supported on proximity pins being disposed on an upper surface of the hot plate, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures; storing a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the hot plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the hot plate needs to be heated based on the target processing temperature and the temperature difference; and heating the hot plate to the predetermined temperature.
 10. A substrate processing method for temperature-controlling a plate to temperature-control a substrate on the plate to a target processing temperature, the substrate being supported on proximity pins being disposed on an upper surface of the plate, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures; storing a temperature difference between the target processing temperature of the substrate and an actual temperature of the plate in each of partitioned areas of the plate when the substrate is temperature-controlled to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be heated for each of the areas based on the target processing temperature and the temperature difference; and temperature-controlling the plate to the predetermined temperature.
 11. A substrate processing method for heating a hot plate to heat a substrate on the hot plate to a target processing temperature, the substrate being supported on proximity pins being disposed on an upper surface of the hot plate, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures; storing a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the hot plate in each of partitioned areas of the hot plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the hot plate needs to be heated for each of the areas based on the target processing temperature and the temperature difference; and heating the hot plate to the predetermined temperature.
 12. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a plate including: a plate body; temperature adjusting means for setting a substrate at a target processing temperature; and proximity pins being disposed on the plate body for supporting the substrate so that the substrate is lifted away from the upper surface of the plate body; storage means for storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures and a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate when the substrate is set at the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; and control means for controlling the temperature adjusting means to change the temperature of the plate based on the temperature difference stored in the storage means for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures whereby the temperature of the substrate is set at the target processing temperature; wherein the control means obtains a temperature difference corresponding to an optional target processing temperature based on a correlation between a plurality of the target processing temperatures and the temperature differences, and obtains a predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be temperature-controlled based on the optional target processing temperature and the temperature difference corresponding thereto.
 13. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the plate is a hot plate, the plate body being a hot plate body, the temperature adjusting means for setting a substrate at a target processing temperature being a heating element embedded in the hot plate body for heating a substrate to the target processing temperature.
 14. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the plate has temperature adjusting means for each of partitioned areas for setting the substrate at the target processing temperature, the storage means storing the temperature difference between the target processing temperature and actual temperature of the plate in each of the areas, the control means controlling each of the temperature adjusting means to change the temperature of the plate in each of the areas.
 15. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the plate has temperature adjusting means for each of partitioned areas for setting the substrate at the target processing temperature, the storage means storing the temperature difference between the target processing temperature and actual temperature of the plate in each of the areas, the control means controlling each of the temperature adjusting means to change the temperature of the plate in each of the areas.
 16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein said plate is circular in plane shape and the partitioned areas are concentrically partitioned areas.
 17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein said plate is circular in plane shape and the partitioned areas are areas which are radially partitioned from the center of said plate.
 18. A substrate processing method for temperature-controlling a plate to set a substrate at a target processing temperature, the substrate being supported on proximity pins being disposed on an upper surface of the plate, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of the target processing temperatures of the substrate; storing a temperature difference between the target processing temperature and an actual temperature of the plate when the substrate is heated to the target processing temperature for each of the plurality of target processing temperatures; obtaining a predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be temperature-controlled based on the target processing temperature of the substrate and the temperature difference; and temperature-controlling the plate to the predetermined temperature, wherein said step of obtaining the predetermined temperature comprises: obtaining a temperature difference corresponding to an optional target processing temperature based on a correlation between a plurality of the target processing temperatures and the temperature differences; and obtaining the predetermined temperature of the plate based on the optional target processing temperature and the temperature difference obtained in the previous step.
 19. A substrate processing method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the temperature-controlling is heating, the plate being a hot plate.
 20. A substrate processing method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the plate has temperature adjusting means for each of partitioned areas for setting the substrate at the target processing temperature, the temperature difference between the target processing temperature and the actual temperature of the plate in each of partitioned areas of the plate is stored, the predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be heated for each of the areas being obtained.
 21. A substrate processing method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the plate has temperature adjusting means for each of partitioned areas for setting the substrate at the target processing temperature, the temperature difference between the target processing temperature and the actual temperature of the plate in each of partitioned areas of the plate is stored, the predetermined temperature to which the plate needs to be heated for each of the areas being obtained. 